A Promise Fulfilled
by Suracis7
Summary: As a mysterious figure approaches the guild of Fairy Tail, questions will be answered, secrets will be revealed, and the future will be laid out for all of the guild to see. Shounen-ai with a Gray x Natsu pairing, AU, OC.
1. Stranger

**Author Note: **After reading a bunch of Natsu and Gray stories, I was simply motivated to write one myself. I used to write stories under a different account but wish to start fresh with a new account. I hope you enjoy the story as well as the writing and please don't hesitate to let me know what your thoughts are through a review.

**Title:** A Promise Fulfilled

**Chapter 1:** Stranger

**Rated: **T

**Warnings:** Some language, Shounen-ai

**Pairings: **Natsu x Gray

**Disclaimer: **Fairy Tail and its characters do not belong to me; Spells also do not belong to me (credit Skyrim); however, any OC named in this story do belong to me

* * *

At the crack of dawn, a lonesome figure stood in front of the most well-known Guild in Fiore Kingdom: Fairy Tail. The individual was not tall nor short and was dressed in an elegant, brown robe with its hood covering the face. The gauntlets and boots were dark black with a beautiful white pattern etched into the armor. A silver ring was found on the individual's right hand and shimmered a bit due to the sun rising above Magnolia. An amulet could discreetly be found hanging around the neck and had beautiful yellow patterns as if made by an old tribe.

The name of this individual would make anyone in the West think twice about who they were dealing with but it would seem this figure can be compared to almost a stranger in the Fiore Kingdom. His name was common; in the Kingdom, it was foreign.

After breathing a huge sigh, the figure slowly opened the doors to the guild and was taken aback with the sight that greeted him. It was a strange sight to behold for a stranger - a bunch of people were in the guild but they seem to be passed out as if they had thrown a huge party the night before. However, a girl could be found on the opposite side of the entrance. She hummed a bit to herself while wiping a couple of glasses behind her but she did take notice of the stranger at the doors.

"Hello and welcome to Fairy Tail. My name is Mirajane. How can I help you?" The figure slowly walked in, making sure the doors closed behind him. As he came closer, it would seem that the figure is a male with raven black hair, which was very similar to Gray's. With guild members laying all around, he made sure not to make a sound as he lightly walked around them. He quietly cleared his throat and when he spoke, it sounded as if he hadn't spoken for days.

"Excuse me, I'm here to see Makarov." With the name of their guild master being said, Mirajane stood a bit defensively but made no signs to show that to the stranger.

"Our master? I'm sorry but he is out attending a meeting with the council. Is there anything I could do to help you instead?" She said with a smile.

"Do you know where I can find him? I urgently need to speak with him." Some members started to stir about due to the exchange between Mirajane and the unknown male, especially a woman with long, blonde hair.

"Gosh, I'm soooo tired!" Lucy stretched her arms above her head while yawning. She then proceeded to rub her eyes and once her vision cleared up, she looked up to see an unknown male standing in front of the bar where Mirajane was located. "Who's this?" Her question went unnoticed when Mirajane slowly placed the glass she was holding down on the bar.

"Perhaps I can take a message and deliver it to our master once he returns. Will that suffice?" Lucy looked at the both of them and for some reason, the atmosphere was quickly changing to something more tense.

"When will he be returning?"

"Sometime this afternoon." With that said, the figure at the bar slowly raised his right hand and opened it up to reveal a clear diamond with a black hole inside with a red center. Mirajane and Lucy were both on guard as they weren't sure what to expect from an unknown stranger who appears to be getting ready to cast a spell. After a quick, fluid motion from his right hand, the figure suddenly disappeared from the guild.

"Um, what was that all about?" Lucy slowly stood up looking around the guild to ensure that the stranger was really gone.

"I don't know but," Mirajane picked up the glass and resumed cleaning it as she continued to speak. "It felt as if he wanted to fight someone or more specifically, our master." Lucy's jaw slightly dropped.

"Whaaattt? Someone wanted to fight Makarov? That makes no sense and you can't just go barging in any guild demanding to fight its master!"

"A fight?! Where?" A pink-haired fellow started to stir from his sleep but it would seem the sound of a fight got him excited even as he awoke.

"No one is fighting Natsu." The rosette seemed a bit disappointed but that didn't stop him from starting one. He looked over to the ice mage nearby and had an evil glint in his eyes.

"Now I can get my revenge from last night Gray!" Natsu quickly stood up and began to approach the sleeping figure who was dressed in his usual white robes. However, Natsu quickly stopped in his tracks when he smelled something… odd.

"Natsu?" Lucy and Mirajane were both surprised to see him stop his antics before they began as they were fully aware of the rivalry between the fire and ice mages.

"I smell something…" The girls looked at each other before looking back to Natsu. "I smell someone's scent that I've never smelled before." Before anyone knew it, a spell was cast from the dragon slayer. "Karyu no Tekken!" Natsu's fists suddenly were engulfed in flames as he lept up to a nearby pillar and punched nothing but air.

"Natsu! What are you trying to do? Burn the guild down?!" Suddenly, a soft groan was heard near the entrance. The mysteriously figure that disappeared right before Lucy and Mirajane now suddenly reappeared hunched over his stomach. "I thought he left already!"

"He used an invisibility spell." Lucy looked over to the white haired girl who was now sitting on one of the bar stools. "Usually, when one casts an invisibility spell, you could still see a faint outline of the person but he completely disappeared." Lucy gulped as this stranger could potentially be an enemy to the guild.

"Who are you and why are you really here?" Mirajane asked as Natsu seemed to be all fired up to fight. The unknown figure slowly raised his left hand and revealed a yellow orb light. Without so much as a whisper, the figure spoke.

"Grand healing." He slowly removed his right arm that was covering the injury from Natsu's attack and revealed that a part of his robes were burnt. However, strands of light began to cover the figure in a circular manner and his clothes went back to normal. Without another word, Natsu began another attack.

"Karyu no Enchu!" A stream of fire appeared from Natsu's elbow, which propelled him forward towards the figure.

"Paralyze." The figure raised his right hand as a green orb was shot towards Natsu and once it reached its target, Natsu fell to the ground.

"Natsu!" With Lucy's scream, all of the other guild members began to wake up and once they processed the scene in front of them with Natsu on the ground, they all assumed fighting positions. The figure scanned the area and took both of his hands and slowly started focusing his magic.

"Mass Paralysis!" A green light was emitted from the figure and the entire guild was soon paralyzed. Lucy fell to the ground but was unable to speak or move due to the effect from the spell. However, it would seem that the spell didn't affect some of the stronger members of the guild. Erza soon appeared behind the bar and took her position next to Mirajane. "Please, I do not wish to fight."

"An attack on the guild surely means war. State your business with Fairy Tail!" Erza commanded the stranger but no response was heard. As such, Erza soon re-equipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor. Without another second passing, a massive amount of swords appeared as she began her attack. "Blumenblatt!" The swords propelled forward to strike but the figure raised both of his hands to cast another spell.

"Summon Frost Atronach!" Using the black orbs in his hands, two massive purple portals appeared next to him, which revealed two huge ice figures that withstood the mighty attack from Titania.

"Your spells are quite unique; however, they are not unknown to me. You seem to have come from the West, am I correct?" The figure remained quiet to all the questions being posed to him as if he had something to hide. The paralysis began to wore off on Natsu as he tiredly got back up.

"That's cheating!" Natsu felt too tired to move but his strength was slowly returning to him. He began to shiver as the cold that was emitting from the Frost Atronachs began to lower the temperature in the guild. Oddly enough, the cold finally woke the ice mage up from his slumber. He yawned as he began to stretch his arms out to the sides. "Wake up frost breath! We have an enemy in the guild!"

"What enemy?" Gray slowly opened his eyes to reveal the scene unfolding in front of him. He quickly stood up and gave a confident smirk. "What's wrong flame breath? You look tired! Don't worry, I'll take care of this." Natsu growled at the ice mage as he moved pass the dragon slayer. "Who is he anyway?"

"I don't know… I just found him in our guild."

"You found him here…? So why are we fighting?"

"I punched him."

"You punched him? Why?"

"Cause he was here." Gray smacked his forehead at the idiot.

"So you started the fight?" Natsu took some time and pondered at the question.

"Yep!" He gave a huge smile, which slightly annoyed Gray but also made him a smile a bit on the inside. Typical Natsu.

"If leaving the guild will avoid a needless fight, then so be it." The figure began to walk away with the two atronachs in tow but Natsu wasn't going to have any of that.

"Karyu no Hoko!" Natsu's signature dragon roar suddenly released a large quantity of flames from his mouth, which aimed for the figure in front. Gray quickly jumped out of the way while calling him an idiot yet again as he was almost hit as well. The figure turned back around to see his atronachs taking the heat but as they slowly started to melt, he raised both of his hands.

"Ice Storm!" Two freezing whirlwinds appeared in front of the figure and started to push back Natsu's attack. "Ice Storm!" Another two freezing whirlwinds pushed back the attack and Gray took this opportunity to step in.

"Shirudo!" A large shield made of ice was quickly made in front of Gray, whose shape is vaguely reminiscent of a flower. The shield was able to stop the attack from the mysterious figure in front of them. "Purizun!" Suddenly, a large square cage made out of ice trapped the figure. "Got him!"

"Summon Flame Atronach!" Two more portals appeared next to him, which revealed two figures made out of fire and had armor covering parts of its body to make a female look. The appearance of the atronachs made the temperature in the guild rise quickly, which excited the dragon slayer.

"I'm so pumped! I don't think I fought someone who could cast so many different types of spells!" In the background, the paralysis over the guild began to wore off. "Karyu no Saiga!" Natsu lept forward towards the so-called enemy and swiped at him in a claw-like fashion. However, the atronachs stood in front to shield its master and it would appear the attack had no effect.

"Hanma!" A large ice hammer suddenly floated above Natsu and the atronachs and without another second passing, the hammer began to drop with great force. Natsu screamed as he got out of the way as another spell was cast.

"Summon Frost Atronach!" The flame atronachs suddenly disappeared and were replaced with the giant ice-like creatures who were able to take the blow from Gray with ease.

"These guys again? I thought we got rid of them!" Soon enough, all of the guild members were back on their feet ready to attack the intruder.

"I didn't think I would have to use this spell in order to defend myself but there's just too many of you. I'm sorry in advance." Erza, Natsu, and Gray eyed him cautiously as mysterious orange orbs appeared in his hands. "Hysteria!" An orange light soon engulfed the guild and before anyone knew what was happening, 95% of the guild ran in terror from the shadowy figure!

"What… what's going on!?" Natsu and Gray looked around to see fear-stricken faces on some of the members of the guild who ran past the figure and into the streets of Magnolia leaving only Erza, Mirajane, Natsu, Gray, and Lucy and that was only because Mirajane was trying to calm her down. "What did you do!?" Natsu asked angrily. The question fell on deaf ears as it only enraged the rosette even further. "Guren Bakuenjin!" Natsu began to swipe his arms in a circular fashion creating a powerful and highly destructive, torrent of flames to try and finish the battle.

"Are you crazy Natsu!? You're going to burn the guild down!" Gray exclaimed as he tried to calm the dragon slayer. And before the attack was unleashed, another spell was cast.

"Pacify." A bright green orb was quickly shot at Natsu which suddenly calmed him down.

"So what are we doing today?" Gray's eyes widened and his jaw dropped while Erza was trying to make sense of what was happening. And then, a flashback shot through Erza which involved Makarov telling her of an old friend.

"Your name is Josh isn't?"

* * *

**Notes:** Hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter. I do realize the chapter may have been lacking in the pairing but we will soon see it. Please let me know if you enjoy this writing style so far and what you think. Thanks!


	2. Old Friends

**Author Note: **I would like to say thanks to everyone who took the time to read the first chapter! However, feedback and thoughts through a review would be great as I would like to receive some constructive and positive feedback as I write future chapters. You may even have a bit of an impact as well... Or maybe not. Who knows?

**Title:** A Promise Fulfilled

**Chapter 2:** Old Friends

**Rated: **T

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai, some language, slight AU

**Pairings: **Natsu x Gray

**Disclaimer: **Fairy Tail and its characters do not belong to me; Spells also do not belong to me (credit Skyrim); however, any OC named in this story do belong to me

* * *

Fairy Tail is known as the best/strongest guild throughout Magnolia not only because of the S-Class members they have but also because of how they operate. You see, anyone who joined the guild instantly became a part of what they call a family. Through this very definition, strong bonds have formed within the guild to the point where they would sacrifice themselves if it meant being able to save another member.

Makarov was proud to be the third master of the guild and yet, he couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed in himself. The reason? Well, when Makarov was younger, he met a young adult in his late teens on one of his quests. I'm sure you can already guess what the stranger's name is: Josh. While Josh never became a member of Fairy Tail, Makarov had always shared many of his stories of what it's like to be part of a guild - the laughter, the sadness, and the joy that everyone goes through together as a family.

Josh had no intention of joining a guild in the Fiore Kingdom as he was on a personal quest of his own. In future encounters, Makarov was notorious for trying to get information regarding this so called personal quest but was never able to get anything out of him. While they weren't best friends, they did have a great friendship with one another as they would pass each other from time to time whenever Makarov left Magnolia. There were even rare occasions where his life was saved by the brown-eyed fellow and that would become something he would never forget.

However, seven years of friendship had passed before the third master would never see him again… until now. And this was a personal story he had shared with one of the most trusted members of the guild, Erza Scarlet.

* * *

"Your name is Josh isn't?" While the stranger before them still didn't answer, he raised his hands ever so slowly to his hood and removed it to reveal his face. However, it wasn't too revealing as his face was covered by a blue metal mask whose eyes and face were very similar to the amulet he was wearing (i.e. made by a tribe). The eyes were in the form of a squint, which were probably two inches apart. And the nose and mouth were connected on a more shallow part of the mask.

"Lucy, everything will be all right so don't worry! Erza, Natsu, and Gray will take care of him." Mirajane said as she tried to comfort the blonde by gently rubbing her back over and over. It would seem that the duration of the stranger's spells would vary greatly from individual to individual as Lucy was still shaking from the Hysteria spell.

"I don't think he knows how to talk." Natsu grumbled as the Pacify spell quickly wore off.

"That's not true - he was definitely speaking whenever he casted a spell." Mirajane said with a smile, which only made Natsu feel a bit on the slow side. Natsu looked back to Mirajane and gave a sigh as he returned his gaze to the stranger before them.

"If answering your questions will stop you from attacking, then I shall answer as it would seem that I am not even allowed to leave." As if to show that he was willing to do whatever they wanted, the two Frost Atronachs disappeared through the portals from whence they came. The atmosphere seemed to have lighten up a bit but that didn't mean they would let their guard down. Erza walked past the two mages and began to speak.

"What's your name and what do you want with our master?"

"It would seem you already know my name. And what is it that I want with Makarov? Simple really - I want to fight him." Natsu growled as he disliked the idea of anyone challenging gramps who wasn't from Fairy Tail. Gray couldn't help but give a soft smile as it reminded him of the times Natsu would always protect his friends from danger.

"Can you remove your mask?"

"No." That answer seemed to have annoyed Erza as she didn't approve of anyone disregarding her command.

"And why not?"

"Why would I reveal my face to people I do not know?" Natsu was becoming impatient with the conversation as he immediately interjected.

"The same reason why you would want to fight gramps! If you want to fight him, you have to get through me!"

"Don't forget to include us!" Natsu was a bit surprised to hear Gray say that but when the ice mage gave him a soft smile, the rosette couldn't help but look away and feel a bit flushed. Mirajane also give a smile as she knew that everyone was a tight-knit group. Suddenly, Josh began to chuckle a bit, which only annoyed the mages further.

"What's so funny asshole?" If looks could kill, then Natsu's glare could have killed Josh ten times over.

"This must be what Makarov spoke of back in the day… I wonder what it would have been like if I had joined this guild." With that said, everyone excluding Erza blinked in confusion. Erza re-equipped into her usual armor with the blue skirt and asked one final question.

"Are you an enemy or a friend?"

"Perhaps you should find out for yourselves."

"Hah! You don't need to tell me twice! Karyu no Koen!" Both of Natsu's hands began to ignite in flames and as he brought his hands together, a rather large fireball was soon thrown at Josh but he didn't seem to move at all. 'No way you're going to escape this time!' The robed figure brought both of his hands up and began to defend himself.

"Greater Ward!" A transparent shield soon formed in front of Josh and when the fireball crashed into it, smoke was released from the explosion.

"I did it! I got him!" Natsu began to jump in excitement but the others just stood there, waiting for the smoke to clear. A couple of seconds passed and once the smoke dissipated, the dragon slayer was a bit shocked that his target was still standing unscathed. 'Ugh, what will it take to get rid of this guy?'

"All of you are way out of your league to even try and take me down. The only person I know that even has a chance of defeating me would be your master."

"Oh yeah? I can take your ass down any day of the week!" Natsu was super annoyed at the self-confidence Josh was exhibiting. "Why don't you face me one-on-one and we'll see whose ass gets kicked!" Gray felt his eyes roll a bit at the rosette since Natsu was well known for settling things over fights instead of words.

"But why him?" Mirajane asked as she finally got Lucy to pull herself together. "Couldn't you have chosen to fight against a different Wizard Saint?"

"Smart question. You see, your master and I have some history together. Fighting against someone I have no connection with would make the battle meaningless. For example, imagine being able to fight your rival to see how you have improved over time. That's what I want to see from Makarov. I want to see if being in a guild has made him stronger or weaker."

"Gramps is ten times stronger than you! There's no way in hell you would ever beat him!" With that said, everyone smiled and agreed with Natsu. As a Wizard Saint and someone who knew spells such as Fairy Law, defeating Makarov would be no easy feat.

"Oh? Is that so? Then I suppose 'gramps' hasn't shared some of his stories with you but that's none of my business or concern. Now, if we are done, I shall take my leave." Before Erza could stop him, a short figure appeared behind Josh, wearing his classic Wizard Saint robes. "Ah, speak of the devil… if it isn't my old friend Makarov." Upon hearing that, an adrenaline rush ran through everyone as Gray and Natsu tried to warn their master.

"Gramps, watch out!"

"He's going to attack!"

"Josh? Is that really you?" Instead of getting ready to defend himself, Makarov seemed to be getting ready to welcome the stranger.

"Didn't you hear us gramps!? He's going to attack you!" When Josh simply gave their master a hug, both Natsu and Gray fell on their faces, dumbfounded by what just happened.

"It's great to see you again! How long has it been? 50... 60 years?" Makarov was a bit ignorant of what was happening inside the guild as Erza helped the mages pick themselves up.

"Yeah, I can't believe it's been that long. I have a lot of things to tell you! Your guild sure has a unique way of welcoming a stranger." Makarov began to laugh as they separated from their hug.

"Don't mind them - it's just their youthfulness that keeps them going. Come inside!"

"Thanks but before we do, I just wanted to apologize." Josh bowed his head before their master as he continued to speak. This Josh was totally different from the one they were just speaking to not too long ago. "One of your family members began to attack me and as a result, I had to defend myself. I tried not to harm anyone but I had to cast the Hysteria spell. I hope that you will forgive me and don't worry, I intend to ask for everyone's forgiveness as well." Makarov gave some thought to what he just said but then a small smile formed on his lips.

"As long as you didn't hurt any of my children, we're still on good terms."

"It was hard not to… especially with that pink haired guy over there." Josh pointed over to Natsu as the group inside began to approach their master by the entrance. That's when Josh leaned in a bit and began to whisper. "Where did you find that guy? He's so sexy especially with those muscles and biceps of his. Does he always flaunt those around? And what about that ice mage? I didn't know you would surround yourself with such young hotties." Josh laughed at his own silliness but stopped when Makarov smacked him over the head.

"Still the same as always... and do not talk like that about one of my children. Understood?"

"Sheesh! Old AND overprotective? You're too much."

"You're one to talk. What are you, a year younger than me?" When Josh didn't respond right away, it only made the conversation awkward.

"Unfortunately, no, I'm not." As Josh removed his mask, all Makarov could feel was his jaw drop and his eyes widen.

"Why do you look look like that?!" As the other members finally came closer, all they could see was a male with black hair, brown eyes, tan skin who looked to be in his early 20s.

"Master, what's wrong?" Lucy asked as they took their place at Makarov's side.

"He's supposed to be a year younger than me!" As the group looked at Makarov to Josh and then back again, only one noise was made.

"EHHHHHH!?"

* * *

**Notes:** I hope everyone has been enjoying the story so far! I've been trying to make the story more interesting and long as I would like this story to end up as the longest and best Natsu x Gray fanfic you'll ever find! It will definitely take a while before we start to see anything happen between Gray and Natsu as I really want to show where their relationship begins to develop right from the beginning and all the rocky moments they have maintaining it. Although, my effort may be in vein… but I may as well try right?

A bit of thanks to crystal, Dark Sorcerer of Fire and Shadow wolf fang for following my story as well as the two anonymous guests who left a small comment on the story so far. And an even bigger thanks to Shadow wolf fang for adding the story to your favorites list!

Thanks again everyone and I'll see you around in the next chapter!


	3. Welcome to Fairy Tail

**Author Note: **Welcome to Chapter 3 everyone! I hope the wait hasn't killed you and if it has, let this chapter breathe new life into you! Enjoy!

**Title:** A Promise Fulfilled

**Chapter 3:** Welcome to Fairy Tail

**Rated: **T

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai, some language, slight AU

**Pairings: **Natsu x Gray

**Disclaimer: **Fairy Tail and its characters do not belong to me; Spells also do not belong to me (credit Skyrim); however, any OC named in this story do belong to me

* * *

"I'm sorry for the sudden visit Makarov but I didn't know where else to go." Fairy Tail's Guild Master and his long lost friend were sitting in a more private setting within the guild. Outside of the room, a number of topics were being discussed such as who the stranger was that attacked them or why Makarov would invite a stranger to his private room. Josh looked outside the window to avoid the gaze of someone he used to call a friend or even a teammate at times.

"What happened to you Josh? Did your personal quest involve searching for some lost spell or dark magic that would allow you to live longer or be young again?" Moments of silence passed between the two, which only made Makarov sigh out loud. In front of Team Natsu, Josh had put a small smile on his face but Makarov knew it was just an invisible mask for people he wasn't familiar with. Once the door to the room shut closed, the whole aura had changed from someone who held the world in his hands to someone who had nothing else to live for.

"I… I just…" The raven gave a huge sigh as he brought his gaze down to the floor beneath him. "I regret everything I've done from the moment I lost contact with you. I…" As Makarov studied his body language, it was very clear that whatever Josh went through seemed like hell but it looked like he wasn't ready to talk about it. "I wish I could say more but… I don't want to look pathetic in front of you and I probably don't even deserve to be here right now. I know you want answers but…" Makarov brought his hand up, which silenced the man sitting across from him.

"Don't force yourself to tell me anything you don't want to."

"No, it's something you have to… no, NEED to know but I just don't want to remember what I've gone through for the past couple of centuries. The loneliness I felt was unbearable and at one point, I almost ended everything right there and then. Just as I was about to, as if to stop me, I heard you say that 'There are people in this world that enjoy being alone but there isn't a single person who can bear solitude.' I looked around frantically thinking that you were actually there but I took it as a sign. A sign to take you up on your offer on joining your guild… if it still stands."

"Of course you can still join Fairy Tail." Makarov said with a soft smile as he continued. "Whenever you feel ready to talk, just know that I will always be here to lend you my ear." With that invite, Josh could only feel his eyes start to water.

"Thank you Makarov." Josh said as he sniffled and wiped a couple of tears off his face. "I can never repay you for your kindness but as long as I am here, I will give 110% of my strength to your guild."

"Don't think of this place as my guild but a place to call home with your new family." Through his tears, Josh gave a soft smile and nodded his head. "Since you're joining us, I wouldn't be surprised if you became an S-Class Wizard next year and take on SS-Class or 10-year quests."

"S-Class?"

"Ah that's right, this is the first time you're joining a guild isn't it? S-Class Mages are among the most powerful individuals within the guild and are the only ones allowed to accept an S-Class mission. Mirajane would describe these missions to be so dangerous that even the smallest mistake can lead to your death."

"That's… interesting."

"Yes well, enough about that. Why don't we go see about getting your insignia and as I said, we can talk more whenever you are ready." Josh nodded his head and as they both stood up, Makarov was surprised to find himself in a tight hug by his friend.

"Thank you… for saving me."

* * *

In the evening, Josh was sitting at the bar studying the blue Fairy Tail insignia underneath his brown robes on his right shoulder. Even though they were mere whispers, people were surprised to see that Josh had joined the guild but all of them were friendly and accepting of him... that is, after he apologized for this morning. It was obvious to the outlander that some of the mages were eyeing him up to see if he was strong or weak. It was actually more nerve-wracking as he wanted to give everyone a good impression.

**Josh's POV**

"How are you adjusting to everything?" I looked up to see Mirajane smiling down at me as she passed me a cocktail and it was hard not to smile back. It's been too long since I disconnected myself with other people.

"Pretty good I think. I'm still not sure how being in a guild works so please forgive me if I ask too many questions."

"You've never been in a guild before?" I turned to see the source of the voice and found a pale young girl with blonde hair. 'What was her name again? I think it was Lucy…'

"No, this is my first time." Lucy took the seat right next to me and began to start a conversation. 'Odd, I thought she would be afraid of me after what I did.'

"Well if you ever need to know anything, don't hesitate to ask me or anyone else in the guild! By the way, the name is Lucy!" I simply gave another smile as Lucy continued to speak. "Do you happen to know anyone in the guild?" I scanned the main hall for any familiar faces but all I could do was shake my head.

"No, I'm… alone." That's when I felt a hand on my right shoulder.

"In Fairy Tail, you're never alone. You will always have friends who will be willing to stick by your side no matter how tough things get." I tried to give another smile but I haven't smiled often enough recently that my cheeks were actually starting to hurt.

"I think it would be a great idea if you had him join you on a quest Lucy. It would give him some experience of how a guild normally works."

"Yeah that's a great idea! Should we start on something small first? Like finding a lost cat or maybe something that pays a good amount of jewels?"

"Um, whatever you would like works for me." I eyed the girl carefully as she seemed to have dollar symbols for her eyes.

"Here, I know what to do. Let me look at the board and let's see if there's something we can do okay?" I nodded my head as she moved up from her chair and began to walk towards a rather large board with a bunch of paper on it. In an effort to make my drink taste better, I shook the contents of the glass around before taking a sip.

"Got into another fight Natsu?" As I took another drink, I saw the fire mage take a seat right next to me on my left-hand side. "Was it with Gray again?" I glanced over and noticed that there were a couple of bruises and injuries here and there… most likely by ice spells.

"Hah! This is nothing compared to the beating I gave him!" Natsu gave the biggest grin I have seen so far in the guild. Mirajane shook her head as she poured him a glass of strawberry milk. The injuries didn't look too bad but I'm sure they were very annoying to have.

"You seem to be fighting with him more than usual. Did something happen?" Natsu shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know what his deal is but he just snaps at me for no good reason." He sighed a bit as Mirajane came back to check up on me.

"How's the drink?"

"Ah it's good. You wouldn't happen to have anything fruity you could add to it do you?" The bartender gave a soft smile as she nodded her head and took my glass away.

"Do you like pomegranate?"

"I love pomegranate!" I exclaimed, which made her chuckle a bit.

"What are you still doing here?" As I looked over to Natsu, all I could see was a death glare, which was trying to make a couple of holes in my face. His body tensed up a bit as if he was in a fight or flight mechanism.

"I.." Before I could answer, that's when Lucy came back with a piece of paper. 'Nice timing!'

"How about this one? It looks like it's about finding a lost cat in Magnolia. The pay is decent and there doesn't seem to be any real danger. Natsu! Did you get in another fight again!?" When the blonde noticed the rosette, she left the paper in front of me and began to berate him.

"It wasn't my fault! And are you about to go on a job?"

"Yeah, Mirajane thought it would be best if I took Josh out to see what it's like to be in a guild." As I read the paper, out of the corner of my eye, I could see him pointing a finger at me.

"He joined Fairy Tail!?" I looked back to see the exchange between Lucy and Natsu and for some reason, he was grinning like a mad man. "I want to fight you right now!" That's when I felt a sweat drop and nervously chuckled.

"Leave Josh alone. Why do you always want to fight people?! It's starting to get annoying." I heard a glass being placed in front of me and saw that my cocktail was back and with a pink color too! I took a sip of it and couldn't help but feel goosebumps run through my body.

"This tastes so good! This might actually be the best pomegranate cocktail I ever had!"

"Cocktail? What's that?" Suddenly, Natsu was very close to me as he started to smell my drink. 'Does this guy not know the meaning of personal space? Although, he does smell kinda good…'

"It's basically alcohol." Natsu returned back to his seat as he seemed a bit disappointed but then gave another grin as we both made eye contact.

"Come on, let's fight! Unless, you're too scared!" My left eyebrow raised a bit as I laughed at the idea of me being too scared to fight another guild member.

"I'd rather not fight someone who's already injured." The dragon slayer looked at some of the bandages that was wrapped around his injuries to heal.

"These are nothing! Come on, let's go!" It would seem that he wasn't going to leave me alone so I downed the rest of my drink and stood up.

"Josh, you're not really going to fight him are you?"

"I don't want to but he's being very persistent about it." Lucy could only give a sigh as she shook her head. "Before we begin, I would like to do something so I don't feel so bad at the end." Natsu gave a confused expression as I raised my hand in front of him. "Grand healing." His injuries began to disappear, which made the bandages come falling right off.

"Whoa, that's awesome! You have healing magic just like Wendy!" Lucy exclaimed with excitement while Natsu seemed to be even more pumped up. 'Wendy? I wonder who that is…'

"Let's head to the back!" Before we could even move from our location, another voice came from nowhere and stopped us.

"Where do you think you're going?" Titania appeared from around the corner and suddenly had Natsu in a headlock. 'Uhh, what's happening here?' "You're not thinking of fighting someone are you? Especially not with our newest member?"

"Of course I wasn't Erza! I was just on my way home!" Natsu struggled against the headlock but nothing he did seemed to be working. That's when Erza released him while having a grin on her face.

"Good! Master just gave me an S-class mission." Both Natsu and Lucy had their eyes wide open as Mirajane made a comment.

"Master gave you an S-class mission?" Erza nodded when she suddenly pointed at Natsu.

"Against my wishes, Master even asked me to take you along." Stars soon formed in the rosette's eyes as he jumped up and down.

"Now I'm really pumped up! I can't wait! When do we start!?"

"We start tomorrow morning at dawn and we're taking two other people with us." That's when the red-haired woman pointed at me. "You're also coming with us! And Natsu, go and retrieve Gray. He's going to be the fourth person in our group." Natsu gave a small groan but when she gave him a death glare, he immediately complied with her wishes and left the guild. "Lucy, do you mind going with Natsu? Just make sure they don't get in another fight."

"Sure." Lucy nodded her head as she also made her way out of the guild. Erza made her way towards me and stopped right next to me as she began to whisper in my ear.

"Follow me." As she walked away, I turned around and began to follow her without question. So Erza Scarlet is an S-class mage? I wonder how strong S-class mages really are. These thoughts continued in my mind as I soon found myself behind the guild in a large clearing.

"If you're going with me on an S-class mission, I need to know if I have to protect someone else." 'So I'm being tested huh… Fine with me.'

* * *

**Notes: **As you can tell by the ending of this chapter, the next chapter will be all about the battle so if you're not interested in that sort of thing, it'd would probably be best to skip it. However, you might miss a detail or two that I might mention in future chapters.

For those of you who may be wondering when the Gray x Natsu will be starting... very soon, I promise. In fact, I've already written Chapters 4 and 5! The reason why it's taking a while to see anything related to their relationship is because I want to build the background before delving into it. Once I start to do so, trust me, you're going to love it! At least, I hope so!

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	4. Battle of Two S-Class Mages

**Author Note: **As a reminder to everyone who is reading this story, please make sure you are reading my notes so you know what's coming up soon. It's very difficult to answer the same question over and over when I've already addressed it within my notes. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Title:** A Promise Fulfilled

**Chapter 4:** Battle of Two S-Class Mages

**Rated: **T

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai, some language, slight AU

**Pairings: **Natsu x Gray

**Disclaimer: **Fairy Tail and its characters do not belong to me; Spells also do not belong to me (credit Skyrim); however, any OC named in this story do belong to me

* * *

As soon as her sword slashed near me, I immediately knew I was at a disadvantage - she was the type of mage who fought up close whereas I do the opposite. Erza was wearing some type of black armor with silver trimming that has silver crosses in several places. It also has a revealing silver-edged breastplate and plates protecting her hips that reach down to her waist. The armor also has two wings that have black metal arms that seem as if they could be used to fly. I quickly jumped away from her to get some space in between us.

"Summon Flame Atronach!" Two flame atronachs appeared through the portal and immediately started attacking with fireballs. "Fireball!" I also began to shoot fireballs at her and even though she was able to dodge my attacks, each fireball created a huge explosion creating smoke and dust in the battlefield.

"Re-equip: Entei no Yoroi." As soon as she jumped out of the smoke, her armor had changed from a black color to something dark red with orange and black parts. In mid-air, she pointed her sword at me and right at the tip of it, flames started to collect as she shot a burst of fire out of it. However, both of my atronachs shielded me as almost all fire attacks have almost no effect on them.

"Incinerate!" A blast of fire was shot from my left hand and I managed to land a hit but it seemed as it didn't do any damage. Must be that armor of hers… While my atronachs continued their onslaught of fireball attacks, she jumped into the air of which I immediately used my invisibility spell. I moved a bit further away creating additional space and while I got into place, Erza had changed her armor again.

"Re-equip: Kaio no Yoroi." This time, the armor was green in color with bluish parts. The armor came with a headgear bearing a whirl-shaped wave on it and large fin-shaped protrusions siding her head. It also came with a long sword, which seems to be made of crystal with many crystals protruding out in every direction. In an instant, she released powerful whirlpools against my atronachs of which they immediately disappeared from the attach. Tch…

"Summon Frost Atronach!" My frost atronachs were easily double my size and had huge, thick ice spikes as their hands. The atronachs began to charge at her and when she swiped her sword at one of them, not only did it get stuck but the freezing temperature emitting from them began to affect her water armor. In an instant, she changed her armor to something more cheetah-like.

"Re-equip: Hisho no Yoroi." It almost didn't even look like armor as the outfit had a large collar around her neck and a tail hanging from the back of her shorts, both made of bushy fur. It even came with a pair of large cheetah ears adorning both sides of her head. Her sword also changed to a pair of short swords with hand guards shaped like rose's thorns. "Hisho: Sonikku Kuro." It was difficult to see it happen but she dashed towards one of the atronachs and slahed at it multiple times from every direction. Once the attack was done, the atronach shattered into pieces.

"Ice Storm!" In almost every direction, I shot freezing whirlwinds to change our battlefield. Once complete, we were now standing in a winter wonderland and it seemed that her speed has slowed down a bit due to the extreme cold. I summoned another Frost Atronach to make up for the one that was destroyed. "Icy Spear!" A spear of ice was shot from my left hand but she easily dodged it with her immense speed. The temperature and environment isn't affecting her enough…

"Hisho: Sonikku Kuro." Again, she destroyed another one of my atronachs and sent it to oblivion. At this point, I began to concentrate my magic into my both hands. After a couple of seconds of meditation, the temperature around me began to decrease rapidly of which I unleashed one of my master spells.

"Blizzard!" Suddenly, a blizzard encircled the entire battlefield and it became very difficult to see. I used my invisibility spell to make it even harder for her to detect me as I summoned another Frost Atronach to attack. From what I could tell, one of my atronachs raised one of its arms and launched it at the ground, which shook the battleground.

"Re-equip: Raitei no Yoroi." The blizzard became worse as it circled around the battlefield even faster. Not only does this spell make visibility worse but it also does damage to the opponent due to the frost damage as well as increase fatigue. However, both of my atronachs were instantly destroyed from some sort of blue beam. "There's no use in hiding - once this blizzard of yours disappears, it's over." After squinting my eyes for a bit, her current armor was golden and light bluish in color. Suddenly, she charged in my direction and thrusted at what looks to be a spear. I managed to sidestep it and immediately casted a spell.

"Thunderbolt!" Both of my hands shot thunderbolts at her but it didn't have any effect. The blizzard quickly died down revealing her weapon to be a long spear with a very large blade and a decorated circle resembling a shield attached to the shaft. Her head was also adorned by a band of two ribbons on it.

"Your blizzard spell made it much easier to detect you. There was a certain spot in the storm where the snow wasn't crossing and I suspected that it was moving around you as the caster." She's a smart one… I wonder if all S-Class mages are this skilled in battle.

"And you seem to have an armor set for all occasions… defeating you would only be a matter of endurance instead of raw power. If you're content with my skills, please let me know but if not, well, hopefully this will change your mind. Conjure Dremora Lord!"

"Are you prepared for your death?" From the realm of oblivion, a dremora lord walked through the portal and wore the standard black heavy armor set and a large great sword that ignites enemies when struck. It spoke with such murderous intent.

"Your spells seem to be very similar to celestial spirit mages but your creatures seem to have a different air about them… the intent to kill." The dremora lord suddenly charged towards Erza and began its attack of which she dodged quite easily. She then shot a lightning beam at the lord but it only had a small effect.

"I honor my lord by destroying you!" The lord swung at Erza, which connected with her spear and set it ablaze.

"Re-equip: Entei no Yoroi." And now, here's my chance to finish her as she quickly changed into her flame empress armor.

"Summon Storm Atronach!" My storm atronach walked through the portal and entered our realm. It appeared as a shattered statue with a cracked, frowning face and chunks of rock swirling about its body, loosely connected by a matrix of electric arcs and dark purple storm clouds. As the dremora lord continued to attack Erza with its great sword of the inferno, the storm atronach began to attack with bolts of lightning.

"I will feast on your heart!"

"Icy Spear!" I shot out multiple ice spears that flew quickly through the air as my atronach continued to attack with lightning and the dremora lord with its great sword of the inferno. With all three elements, defeating her now should be easier unless she has another armor set hidden up her sleeve.

"Re-equip: Kongo no Yoroi." Erza suddenly created a powerful magic barrier by combining her two shields together as we continued our attacks. Tch… going on the defense I see. I began focusing my magic again into another master spell and unleashed it within the next couple of seconds.

"Lightning Storm!" By putting my hands together, a powerful, steady beam of lightning shot from my hands, which struck her shield. Even with two summoned creatures and a master spell, getting through her shield looked to be impossible. I freed my right hand from the lightning storm and began another spell. "Summon Ash Guardian!" Through two more portals, the Ash Guardians stepped through the portal, which looked very similar to the Storm Atronach but instead of lightning has ash in its place. Both of the guardians began to shoot ash at Erza, which decreased her visibility and breathing.

"Oblivion take you!" The lord shouted as he continued to swing at her shield, the storm atronach with lightning, the ash guardians with a blast of ash, and myself with a lightning storm.

"Ash Guardians, to the rear and attack!" As quickly as I said it, the ash guardians repositioned themselves behind Erza and attacked, which forced her to jump into the air. However, our attacks followed her into the air and was able to finally make contact with her armor. As she began to decend, I got myself ready to cast another master spell. "Blizzard and Detect Life!" A violent snowstorm started up again and with the addition of ash, visibility was reduced to zero as Erza finally returned to the ground. However, thanks to my detect life spell, my conjurations and I were easily able to see her through the blizzard and continued our onslaught.

"Re-equip: Arumadura Feari." Suddenly, I could see my storm atronach and ash guardians be destroyed by a pair of identical swords. While the blizzard continued, I could see her fighting the dremora lord on equal ground as he was able to keep up with Titania. However, she managed to gain the upper hand by knocking the lord over and thrusting both swords into him causing the lord to return to oblivion. The blizzard spell also began to recede as she began to walk towards me. Not good, do I really have to resort to my shout spells? Suddenly, she re-equipped back into regular clothes.

"Um, is the battle over?" I blinked my eyes as I waited anxiously for her response.

"I can see why Master would choose to send you on an S-class mission as your first quest. You're versatile with your spells and have a large amount of spells to choose from… I wonder if I've seen some of your stronger spells yet. And you're very strategic in battle, which can be dangerous for your enemies. You're definitely an S-class wizard."

"Well, thank you. You're very strong and defeating you in a real battle would have probably taken me much longer with many more spells. While I see how an S-class mage can fight, I wonder how non S-class mages would fare against me."

"Probably not so well. Anyway, let's head back inside and see if Natsu and Gray have returned." With that said, I mentally breathed a sigh of relief. I really didn't want to reveal some of my other spells just yet. I followed her back into the guild to hear loud music blasting through speakers as there seemed to be a karaoke contest going on. I was able to quickly catch the look between Makarov and Erza and was able to make the connection as to what was going on right away. Very cunning Makarov… a karaoke contest to mask the sounds of our battle. No wonder no one came out to check on us.

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**Notes: **Thanks for reading this chapter all the way through! Please let me know what your thoughts are through a review or private message! See you in the next chapter! Hint: we are finally going to see some form of Gray x Natsu in the next chapter!

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	5. Self-Reflection

**Author Note: **Looks like you guys are starting to catch up with the chapters I've written! Guess I just need to write some more a bit faster but alas, I have to also focus on work and play my video games! Enjoy the chapter!

**Title:** A Promise Fulfilled

**Chapter 5:** Self-Reflection

**Rated: **T

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai, some language, slight AU

**Pairings: **Natsu x Gray

**Disclaimer: **Fairy Tail and its characters do not belong to me; Spells also do not belong to me (credit Skyrim); however, any OC named in this story do belong to me

* * *

I stared at the river stream as I placed my back on a tree letting the wind run through my hair. For the first time today, I removed my hood but decided to keep my gauntlets and boots on. I wasn't very familiar with the area so it didn't hurt to keep my guard up. After my battle with Erza, I decided to leave the guild and explore Magnolia as I wasn't one for karaoke. A sign called this place the East Forest and so far, it seems like it's a nice, quiet place if I wanted to meditate. A wave of thoughts soon consumed me as I felt the need to talk to someone… or something.

"Summon Frost Atronach." A portal opened up of which one of my frost atronachs appeared. It looked around in search for an enemy but when it found none, it placed itself near me. The coolness of its body didn't irritate me as it was pretty warm out anyway.

"Can you believe it? After centuries of loneliness, despair, and sadness, I've seem to have found myself in a great guild. The people are a little weird but at least I got some eye candy right?" I looked up to the atronach but unsurprisingly, it didn't respond. It couldn't even talk but I like to believe that it has ears or something to listen to me with.

"It's all thanks to Makarov, my old friend. If it wasn't for him, I'd probably be lying dead in a gutter somewhere. You know, I can't even remember when everything started going downhill… after I learned the master spells? After I learned my shout spells? Or was it after I was cursed?" I looked back to the stream to see a fawn with its mother. "Love… how two-sided it is. On one side, you feel the joyous presence of being in someone's company and on the other side, you feel emotions such as jealousy and possessiveness. Do you think I'll ever find out how to break this curse of mine?"

Silence filled the air as the fawn and its mother began to walk down-stream. "Life can be so cruel." I sighed out loud as I suddenly heard a twig snap nearby, which made me stand up instinctively. "Wall of Frost!" I quickly sprayed the ground around myself and the atronach with the spell, which created ice spikes pointing upwards in its wake. "Frost Cloak!" A cloak of frost soon encircled me as an extra layer of protection. I looked around and suddenly saw a rabbit jump out into the open.

"Really? You're the one who made that loud noise?" I chuckled a bit as I began to relax.

"What are you doing?" The sudden voice made me jump a bit as I turned around to see someone in white robes with pale skin and raven-black hair. Wasn't he one of the members I fought this morning?

"Depends on who's asking." He walked into the moonlight as his skin started to glisten. Wow… so handsome. Oh wait, is it that guy I met earlier today? "You look oddly familiar and comfortable for someone approaching my wall of frost." He started to make some hand gestures and before I knew it, my wall of frost was manipulated to create an opening between us. That only confirms that this is the ice mage I fought.

"Just so you know, no ice spells will work on me."

"Overconfidence will be your undoing. Well, I'll let that one slide for now. I have no interest in fighting or arguing with someone right now but if you have an issue, please let me know and I'll find myself another place to linger." Moments of silence passed as his dark blue eyes stared me down. As if to intimidate him, my frost atronach took a step forward in front of me.

"Don't worry, I'm not interested in fighting someone either. You're that new member aren't you?" I gave him a confused expression but when he suddenly began to lift his shirt, I felt myself start to turn a bit red. What in the world is he doing? Then he pointed to the Fairy Tail insignia, which made me look at my own on my right shoulder.

"I guess news tends to travel fast around here." I removed the wall of frost as well as my frost cloak but had my atronach remain as a safeguard. Seeing as how he didn't seem like he was a threat, I returned to my original position of sitting upright on the tree behind me.

"How did you manage to convince gramps to let you join the guild?" I looked over to see him sitting upright on a tree as well that was only a couple of feet away from me.

"That's none of your business and if you really want to know why, go ask your guild master."

"You mean OUR guild master?" He did have a point…

"Why are you out here anyway? Shouldn't you be at the guild or something?"

"Didn't feel like being there." He brought his knees to his chest and it seemed like he began to lose himself in his thoughts. I wonder if he overheard me talking out loud. As time passed, the temperature continued to decrease due to the presence of my atronach - it's probably at least 24 degrees Farenheit. I shivered a bit as it started to get too cold for my liking. The ice mage didn't seem to be in the mood to talk so I just focused on my atronach instead.

"Anyway, life in oblivion must be pretty nice for you right? Everything is probably all frozen where you live like a winter wonderland. Must be nice to live in a place where you can call home and be surrounded by friends and family who love you; that is, if you have friends and family."

"Are you talking to that… thing?"

"My atronach? Yes, why? Do you have a problem?" He shook his head.

"Does it respond when you ask it something?"

"No but I like to think it can understand what I say and how I feel. All of my atronachs are probably the closest thing I have to a family."

"You don't have a family?" It was my turn to shake my head.

"I didn't know my parents. I grew up alone but started exploring the land of the West when I was just a pre-teen to fill the void I felt but that's a long story you probably wouldn't want to hear." I really wasn't in the mood to talk about my own life… Gotta find something to change the topic. "Anyway, what's your name?"

"Gray."

"Gray? Like the color?" He nodded. "Is it because you're always on the fence?" He glared at me to which I responded with a chuckle. "It was a joke… sheesh. By the way, this is just an observation but you look like you have something on your mind. Did you want to talk about it?" He looked at me as if to consider my question; that is, open up to me. "I promise, I won't laugh, bite, or speak a word to anyone else if that helps." He seemed to have mumbled something to himself before he spoke up.

"Part of me is hurting and I don't know why." He looked away as if he was sharing his deep, dark secret with me. "Well, some of the pain is because I just fought some dimwit…" Some dimwit? Probably fought Natsu if I recall correctly.

"Physical pain? I can take care of that if you'd like." He looked back to me and slowly nodded his head. "Grand healing." Strands of light circled around Gray as it closed up any physical wounds he had. "Feel a little bit better?"

"Yeah, thanks." Again, silence took over and it was starting to get annoying.

"I believe you were about to tell me what else was bothering you." He didn't respond but I began to list a bunch of emotional pain. "Depressed? Sad? Angry? Jealous? Love?" With the last word, his eyes momentarily widened. "So your pain has something to do with love?"

"No, I…" He sighed as he continued. "I don't know. I'm just tired of all the fighting and trying to get someone to understand how you feel can be a bit impossible sometimes."

"You fight? How so?"

"Physically."

"Uhh, like you hit them or something? Don't tell me you're engaging in domestic violence?" That's when his eyes widened again as he shook his head.

"No! Nothing like that! Like we actually fight with magic."

"Are you in a relationship with this person?" He shook his head again for like the tenth time tonight.

"It sounds as if you're fighting because you're not sure if this person shares the same feelings for you, am I correct?" He looked at me dead in the face with such shock.

"How can you tell?"

"You forget - I may look young but I'm just as old as your master. I've been through the pain as long as I can remember. I'm not even sure if it will go away at this point. But this isn't about me… why don't you just tell them how you feel?" He bit his lower lip as it took a couple of seconds before he spoke again.

"Because… he's a guy." That's when I raised my left eye brow.

"So?"

"So!? It's not normal and if I told him how I felt, he would probably look at me with disgust! I can't bear to lose his friendship."

"So you're friends with him?" He nodded. "Would you rather keep his friendship and never find out how he feels or tell him and take a risk of escalating your friendship to the next level?" He looked away and began to ponder on what I just said.

"The reason why I'm not telling him is because he's straight. I've seen how he looks at other girls in the guild."

"Sounds like an excuse."

"Excuse!?"

"You heard me. You don't know what someone is thinking when they look at other people. You're just making an assumption. Remember, when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me." He rolled his eyes as I laughed a bit but started again in a serious tone. "Honestly, if you don't try, you may regret that you never did in the future. You don't have to do it tonight but I would advise you to do it soon. If you'd like, I can offer my assistance and perhaps talk about this some more in the future."

"Yeah, I'd like that. I'll think about it some more and thanks Josh. I appreciate it."

"No problem man. And does everyone know my name? It's a little bit creepy."

"Did you already forget you attacked us?"

"Hey, I didn't attack you guys! It was your pink-headed friend that attacked me first!"

"Yeah, he tends to attack first before thinking sometimes." As small as it was, I noticed Gray smiling a bit at what he said. Huh, I wonder…

"So I ran into Natsu and Lucy while I was in the guild this evening." His attention became 10 times more focused when I brought up the rosette's name.

"You did? What happened?"

"Well, Natsu was wrapped up in bandages for some reason. I think it's because he fought someone but I can't remember who it was. He didn't seem to care though because he became more interested in fighting me once he learned I joined the guild."

"Oh…" Gray's interest in the conversation quickly dwindled just as fast as it was originally focused. Maybe the boy he's talking about is Natsu.

"That reminds me. Did Natsu ever tell you about the S-class mission?" He looked at me with a puzzling face.

"What S-class mission?"

"Hmm, I guess he never got to you then. Last time I checked, Lucy went with him to find you." Gray's expression changed from puzzling to something that resembled more of rage and jealousy.

"Maybe I should go find them."

"I don't think you should." His rage suddenly became more focused on me for trying to stop him. "You'll only upset yourself more if you're right. Besides, how would you feel if you saw Natsu kissing Lucy?" Gray's jaw dropped as his eyes widened once more this evening.

"Wha-what are you talking about? I wouldn't care at all."

"Gray, the person you like is Natsu right?" He bit his lower lip even harder as he looked away.

"How can you read me so easily? You don't even know me!"

"One word: psychology. Everyone acts similarly in certain situations and when one learns how to read them, it becomes much easier to tell what people are thinking. I apologize if I've overstepped my boundaries by sharing my knowledge of your romantic interest in Natsu." Gray sighed out loud in disappointment and partially in relief. Maybe he's a bit happy that someone else knows about his secret.

"You're probably right. I shouldn't go look for them and besides, you can tell me about the S-class mission anyway." I gave a smile as I think I've potentially met my first friend within the guild.

"Hey Gray, I know this is the first day we've met but I like you. Why don't you take this to remember me by in case our paths start to differ?" I took a small gold ring from my satchel that had sapphire imbued in it and passed it to my atronach to pass over to Gray. Once Gray received the small present, he looked a bit confused. "Don't worry, I'm not proposing to you or anything. This ring is actually enchanted to make ice spells a bit stronger but not significantly. I hope you like it." He continued to examine the ring but as he put it on his right index finger, he gave me a smile.

"Thanks. You're actually a pretty good guy."

"Yeah well, I hope it stays that way." I smiled back as we both began to laugh a bit. Here's to wishing us good luck on our mission tomorrow as a shooting star passed overhead.

* * *

**Notes: **Thanks for all of the reviews I've received thus far! It really helps to motivate me continue writing as well as provide me feedback and answer any questions you may have! As for the pairing, people have been asking me whether it's Gray x Natsu or Natsu x Gray and to be honest, I don't really know. The reason is because I'm planning on writing the story in a way where both of them get to be the "seme" and "uke" as you fans love to describe them! Hope that doesn't disappoint! And don't worry, the next chapter will be out whenever I decide to update it!

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	6. Train

**Author Note:** Yep, you guys are definitely catching up to the chapters I've written. I've just been so busy that I haven't found the time to write anything in the past week or two! Well, enjoy the sixth chapter!

**Title:** A Promise Fulfilled

**Chapter 6: **Train

**Rated: **T

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai, some language, slight AU

**Pairings: **Natsu x Gray

**Disclaimer: **Fairy Tail and its characters or cities do not belong to me; Spells and cities also do not belong to me (credit Skyrim); however, any OC named in this story do belong to me

* * *

"Pay attention!" I looked over to Gray and Natsu as my I leaned on the table with my elbow. Erza was starting to get annoyed by their antics as she was trying to explain what our quest was all about. Just one death glare from Titania automatically made the two mages straighten their act.

"Aye, sir!" Both of them said in unison as they looked as if they were pretending to get along for the sake of not being beaten to death. It was about 6 in the morning as we met early at the guild to discuss certain details before we left Magnolia. Gray was dressed in the same white coat and black pants he wore last night. Guess he didn't have time to change after our little chat... Natsu was wearing a sleeveless, gold trimmed, black waistcoat, which exposed his bare chest. He was also wearing white knee-length trousers, a thick black wristband on his left wrist, black open-toed sandals and a scale-patterned scarf.

"Now listen up! A sanctuary was uncovered near a town called Winterhold in the North, which has caused them a lot of trouble. Apparently, undead warriors called Draugr have poured out of the sanctuary and have since then taken over the town. We've been chosen to exterminate all of the Draugr in the town as well as in the sanctuary. Understand?"

"All right! I get to kick some undead butt!" Natsu exclaimed as he jumped out of his seat, which led to Gray to roll his eyes. I, on the other hand, am actually quite surprised about the Draugr.

"Draugr huh? I'm surprised they even exist in the Fiore Kingdom."

"You know the Draugr?" Erza's eyes were now so focused on me that it was actually a bit intimidating.

"Yeah, I've faced them countless of times in the West. However, I've never even encountered them once while in the Fiore Kingdom so I'm surprised that some would turn up now."

"Good! We have an expert on our team - what luck." Erza said with a nod and smile. She's a devious one.

"So how strong are they?" asked Gray as he put his hands together to hold his head up while leaning on the table.

"It really all depends. You can kill some of them with one spell but there are others, which take forever to kill. The stronger ones use a unique type of spell, which are very powerful and difficult to avoid. There are people who have tried to learn them but it would take almost a lifetime to even learn one. However, the overlords are the ones you have to be careful with. Those guys can kill you in a single hit if you let your guard down, no matter how strong you are." Gray gulped down some saliva but Natsu was just getting more excited.

"What spells do they use?" asked Erza as her concentration didn't even begin to recede.

"They use shout spells."

"Shout spells?" All three of them looked at me with great interest.

"These spells require the use of your voice, which is precisely why it's almost impossible to learn. Imagine creating ice with just the vibrations of your voice. I mean, for a dragon slayer, it's very easy to shoot an element from their mouth but non-dragon slayers cannot do the same thing. However, if you are able to learn a shout spell, you do not need to eat the element you intend to use in order to use the spell or replenish your strength - that is the advantage."

"Interesting. Well, let's talk more on the train before it departs." As Erza stood up, Natsu suddenly became nervous.

"A train ride!?"

"Do you have a problem with trains?" I asked curiously. Gray started to laugh as Natsu looked as if he was about to throw up.

"He has a serious problem with transportation cause he's a dragon slayer. It's their biggest weakness."

"I don't have a problem at all! It's the train that has a problem with me!"

"Is that why you always need Wendy's magic or Erza to knock you out?"

"Whatever perv! At least I don't go taking off my clothes in public!" I looked at the bickering between them and sighed at the sight. I hope I don't have to deal with this type of behavior on the way there. Although, it is kinda entertaining…

* * *

As we were on the train, Natsu looked tremendously sick and I felt really bad for the guy. Apparently, it really was some type of sickness or disease that all dragon slayers possess when it comes to transportation. Right now, his head was hanging outside of the window as Erza tried to comfort him by rubbing his back. However, it looked as if he looked even more sick by her touch but I wasn't going to say anything - I didn't want to get killed after all.

I glanced over to Gray who chose to sat by my side and it looked as if he was lost in his thoughts… very similar to last night. I wonder what he's thinking about - our quest? The Draugr? Or perhaps maybe Natsu? I decided it was best not to disturb the ice mage but as I looked away, I noticed that the ring I gave him was still on his finger. I immediately smiled as I looked back at the fire mage.

"Is there a cure for whatever Natsu has?" Erza shook her head as she began to reply.

"No, knocking him out doesn't really do him any favors and Wendy, another dragon slayer in our guild, has healing magic that temporarily fixes it. So far, we haven't had any permanent solutions."

"He looks like he's sweating… perhaps a fever? Although, it would be ironic that a fire mage would somehow get a fever." Erza looked back at the rosette and placed her hand on his forehead.

"You're right. I didn't notice since I always knock him out and lay him in my lap." A smile soon formed on my lips again as I thought of a plan, which I'm sure Gray will appreciate... or not.

"Maybe we need to cool him off with some ice magic. Gray," I looked back over to him as his head was now facing in our direction. "Why don't you switch places with Erza and try some of your ice magic and see if that works?" Gray looked a bit hesitant to move but before anything else happened, the rosette spoke up.

"Ke-keep him away f-from me!" Natsu said as tried to hold in his vomit. Looks like the fire mage wasn't going to easily cooperate with my plan. I made a motion to both Erza and Gray to switch places as they both nodded their heads and quietly switched. As soon as Gray sat down, he began to focus his ice magic, which led some fog to form around his hands. When he began to slowly rub Natsu's back, he shuddered a bit as a reaction.

"It's working…" Erza was a bit shocked as we both noticed that the sweating has stopped. Suddenly, Natsu fell backwards into his seat and landed in Gray's lap. However, that didn't stop Gray from gently caressing the dragon slayer from his back to his head and arms. Aww, it was definitely a cute sight to behold. Gray was even smiling a bit. "Now we know what the cure is - ice magic! Gray, you're going to be permanently teamed up with Natsu whenever we go on a mission. Understood? Maybe this will help the two of you get along better."

"I don't think he's paying any attention to us…" Both Gray and Natsu were both lost in their own world and no matter what we said, their focus remained on each other. The dragon slayer appeared to be sleeping thanks to Gray's magic.

"We have a couple of more hours left so let's talk about the mission." I looked back to the S-class mage as she continued. "What is the best way to defeat the Draugr? And how do they operate in battle?"

"Well, they don't work together in battle but they all have the same purpose: protecting the sanctuary from whence they came. While they have no sense of teamwork, defeating 20 Draugr would be easier than defeating 1 Draugr Deathlord. There are actually ranks among the Draugr but we really need to be careful when it comes to the warlocks and overlords. I've seen one overlord take out a group of 10 mages before."

"Do they use anything else but shout spells?"

"Yes, they fight with bows and arrows, axes, swords, and ice spells as well. Having said that, Gray might not be the best person to face them alone. On the other hand, they're weak against fire spells so Natsu shouldn't have any issues at all."

"I see… what effect do their shout spells have?"

"It depends on which one they use. Typically, they only use three shout spells: the first one can disarm you of whatever weapon you're using, the second one is a frost breath, but the third one can knock you off your feet and push you away. You just have to be careful of the third one because that can leave you susceptible to being attacked as you try and get back up."

"What's your past experience with the Draugr?" I was a bit perplexed as to what she was asking.

"You mean how do I know them or how have I dealt with them before?"

"Both." I looked down at the floor as I brought my right hand to my chin.

"Well, I've explored many ruins and sanctuaries before and have always faced the Draugr so I know them pretty well. Facing them for the first time was very difficult as I was just starting out so I only knew the basic spells, which weren't that strong. However, dealing with them by myself is actually quite easy thanks to my conjuration spells. I basically always have a team with me wherever I go." Erza stared at me for a couple of seconds before looking straight ahead, which made me do the same.

"Looks like they're both sleeping peacefully. Too bad they're not like this all the time." Natsu was still in his usual position sleeping in Gray's lap while the raven slept on his right hand with his elbow on the armrest.

"What do you mean they're not like this all the time?"

"They have a rivalry with each other but recently, it's gotten quite bad. They fight each other whenever they get the chance but this is the first time I've seen them like this in a long time."

"It sounds quite... unsettling." Erza didn't mention anything else other than the fact she wanted to get some sleep in before we arrive in Winterhold, which actually gave me some time to think. As I looked out the window to the plains outside, I instinctively placed my Morokei mask over my face; the same one I had on when I first visited Fairy Tail. If the Draugr are in the Fiore Kingdom, then I wonder if they're protecting the Konahrik mask I've been searching for. Guess I'll find out once we get there - no harm in giving myself some shut eye.

* * *

**Notes: **Thanks for reading the story so far! Please let me know what you think so far with a review! See you in the next chapter!

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	7. Skirmish

**Author Note: **And here comes Chapter 7! I've actually already completed up to Chapter 10 and am currently working on Chapter 11! Have fun reading!

**Title:** A Promise Fulfilled

**Chapter 7: **Skirmish

**Rated: **T

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai, some language, slight AU

**Pairings: **Natsu x Gray

**Disclaimer: **Fairy Tail and its characters or cities do not belong to me; Spells and cities also do not belong to me (credit Skyrim); however, any OC named in this story do belong to me

* * *

"THIS IS OUR LAST STOP! ACCESS TO WINTERHOLD HAS BEEN SUSPENDED DUE TO ABNORMAL ACTIVITY!" I looked up at the intercom to hear a booming voice commanding us to get off the train. I yawned a bit as I saw Gray and Natsu start to stir from their sleep.

"Wha-what's happening?" Natsu's eyes began to open and as soon as he analyzed the person he was on, he immediately jumped out of his lap knocking his head into Gray's.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Gray rubbed his forehead while Natsu pointed a finger at him.

"What am I doing!? What were you doing to me while I was asleep!?"

"I didn't do anything perverted if that's what you're thinking. In fact, you should be thanking me!" Erza began to wake up from her own slumber as the two young mages continued to argue.

"Thank you for what?" At that point, Gray began to fume as he stood up from his seat.

"You know what? Forget it! You wouldn't even believe me even if I told you." The white-robbed figure began to exit the train as I made a motion to follow him.

"Erza, I'm going ahead with Gray. We'll meet you outside the train station in a bit." Erza stretched our her arms as she nodded her head. As I made my way past Natsu, I felt a hand hold onto my wrist, preventing me from leaving.

"Where do you think you're going?" I turned around to see who was latching onto me and was surprised to see a fierce look on his face.

"I'm going to check on Gray and make sure he's all right." I said with a smile. "Besides, we're all part of the same team so we really shouldn't be fighting with one another." His grip on me began to loosen as he slowly looked away.

"He started it…" He said in a low whisper. I smiled and patted his bushy pink hair, which surprised him.

"I'll recon the station with Gray and find out how far we are from Winterhold."

"There's no need." My gaze switched over to the S-class wizard as she began to stand up from her seat - probably fully awake by now. "Let's all stick together. We don't want to be separated so easily." I nodded my head as the three of us finally exited the train, which gave us all a fresh breath of air. As I looked around the station, I found the raven standing by a pillar near the station's exit.

"How far are we from Winterhold?" Erza asked a man who was wearing the traditional blue uniform for station employees.

"About an hour away if you walk but I wouldn't recommend going there at this time. There's some strange things happening in that town."

"That's why we're here! Fairy Tail is going to fix the problem and put everything back to normal!" Natsu jumped with such excitement that it made him look like a child.

"Ah, another guild has come to fix the problem? Good luck. A couple of other guilds have already tried but as you can see," He pointed in a direction near a train departing for Magnolia. There were a couple of mages lying around who looked terribly injured: some had deep cuts and others were suffering from ice spells. "They've failed. Perhaps it would be best to leave Winterhold alone and head back home."

"No way! We never back down from a fight!" The employee merely stared at Natsu as he walked away while shaking his head.

"Looks like this mission won't be so easy after all."

"What's wrong? You scared?" Gray looked slightly annoyed by Natsu's comment as he approached us.

"No dimwit. Look at how many people have gone on this S-class quest and failed. We just have to be more careful than they were."

"Why don't we start walking before we lose daylight?" As I looked up in the partly cloudy sky, it looked to be around 3 in the afternoon. The group agreed with my suggestion and as a team, we started our journey to Winterhold.

* * *

"Whoa! What is that?" I quickly made a motion for Natsu to shut his mouth as we all hid behind a rather large boulder near the main path.

"That is a Draugr Wight and they're moderately strong." As we all peeked around the boulder, the Wight had a large sword in its right hand and an iron shield in its left hand. "We need to be careful. If a Wight is around, there has to be other Draugr around as well."

"What makes you say that?" Gray asked while Natsu couldn't contain his excitement as he was jumping up and down a bit. How can someone be so excited to fight?

"Typically, a Wight is usually found leading several other Draugr into battle. They also use ice spells so be careful."

"Karyu no Koen!" I suddenly jerked my head to see Natsu standing on the main road shooting a large fireball at the Wight.

"Are you trying to get us killed!?" Gray exclaimed as Erza and I remained calm and took in what was happening. The fireball made a direct hit on the Wight as it caught on fire.

"Karyu no Hoko!" The fire mage quickly released a large quantity of flames from his mouth at the Wight and in an instant, the Wight went down. "Hah! That wasn't so bad!"

"Detect Dead." As I focused the spell in my right hand, a light blue mist shone off my team but in the distance, numerous red mists were found heading our way. I stopped the spell and rubbed my forehead a bit. "Looks like you got the attention of every nearby Draugr." Suddenly, an arrow passed in between Erza and I as we turned to see a Draugr with a bow. "Thunderbolt." I immediately shot a bolt of lightning at the undead warrior, which instantly made it disintegrate.

"How did you kill it in one hit?"

"Like I said, some of them are weaker than others. However, if and when an overlord shows up, we need to work together. In the meantime, stay close and get ready to fight. We're about to be surrounded." At least twenty Draugr appeared around us and Natsu immediately charged at two of them.

"Karyu no Yokugeki!" The dragon slayer sent the two Draugr flying into the sky like shooting stars.

"Aisu Kyanon!" Having created a large, bazzoka-like hand-held cannon, Gray fired a cannonball made of ice at three Draugr, which dealt a tremendous amount of damage as only one of them was able to stand back up. "This ring of yours is amazing Josh!" He shot another cannonball, which finished up the lone Draugr. This is a bit surprising - I didn't know the ring would increase his ice spells to the point where it actually negated the weakness against the Draugr.

"Oh? Is that so?" I sweat dropped a bit as both Erza and Natsu gave me confused looks. Suddenly, an ice spike was shot at Erza but in a cheetah-like fashion, she dodged the spell and charged for the Draugr. In an instant, the Draugr was cut into half as Titania continued her onslaught. Only fourteen more Draugr to go…

"Hah! Gray's spells hurt more than this!" A Draugr was literally standing in front of Natsu using its Frostbite spell as a continuous steam of frost was projected from its left hand. However, the spell looked like it was doing absolutely nothing against the fire mage.

"Natsu, will you stop playing around?!" Before the undead warrior swung its axe, the fire mage quickly made a motion to attack.

"Karyu no Kenkaku!" His entire body was ablaze with flames as he gave a headbutt to the warrior at a high speed.

"I guess it's better to have fun than to have fear while in a battle. That's something I'll agree with Natsu. Having fun in a battle is definitely exhilarating but not against opponents who are so weak. Paralyze!" I shot out five green orbs at five Draugr who were charging at me. "Wall of Storms!" With my right hand, I shot out a wall of lightning and sprayed it at the ground near the five Draugr. Since the Draugr were paralyzed, they could do nothing but continue to be shocked by the spell as they slowly disintegrated.

"Tenrin Sakuru Sodo." As I turned, I saw Erza dressed in her Heaven's Wheel Armor - the same one she used when she first greeted me back at the guild. Titania equipped additional swords and had them circle around her. "Dance, my blades." The swords then began to spin rapidly around her and the swords suddenly went flying towards the remaining Draugr in a disc formation at first and upon impact, the swords separated and flew in different directions dealing great damage.

"Looks like we're all done here. What about you guys?" Both the mages smiled victoriously by the small scrimmage we had. Erza changed back to her usual armor as we returned back onto the main path.

"This time, do not attack them!" The scarlet-haired woman smacked Natsu's head as he began to writhe in pain. "We need to figure out where the town is first before clearing the Draugr out."

"Let me see how far we are. Detect Dead." As I looked down the main path, I saw a bunch of red mist indicating that we weren't that far away from Winterhold. "We're not that far… probably another half hour walk?"

"Then let's get started." Erza began to lead us as we followed closely behind. A couple minutes of silence passed between us as we took in the quiet atmosphere as well as an environment that seemed to be devoid of any life. That is, of course, until Gray decided to speak up.

"Josh, why are you wearing that mask?" I looked over to him as I thought about how to answer the question.

"There's actually an enchantment on this mask, which makes me recover my magic at a quicker pace. In fact, everything that I'm wearing has some sort of an enchantment!" When Gray's eyes began to scan me from head to toe, a devious smile formed on my lips. "Oh Gray, if you want to check me out, you can do that another time, in private." With that said, Gray's cheeks turned a bit pink as he looked away.

"Yeah you wish I was checking you out."

"Well, that would explain why you don't have a girlfriend yet." Gray quickly turned back in our direction with a glare on his face.

"And you do?" The ice mage spat out. "Please, I'm sure Lucy is more interested in me than in you." As I glanced over to Natsu, it was noticeable that he was starting to get pissed again. Man, I forgot how young lovers always quarrel like they have all the time in the world.

"Is that why Lucy and I spent so much time together last night?" It was very noticeable that Gray had a hurt expression on his face and Natsu being oblivious to it didn't really help. "Admit it Gray. You would probably be more interested in a guy than a girl."

"And if he did, would it matter?" I immediately interjected, which seemed to have surprised the rosette. He didn't say another word as he looked down to the ground as we continued to walk. "So how's the ring treating you?" I grabbed Gray's hand to get a closer look at it.

"It's pretty awesome. I know you said it only increased my powers by a little bit but it feels like it has increased so much more. Thanks again." He's so kind… I wonder what he sees in Natsu. I mean, it's not like the rosette isn't good looking but his personality is a bit appalling at times.

"What ring?" When Natsu asked, I immediately brought Gray's hand closer for him to take a look as well.

"See? Doesn't it look nice?"

"Where'd the ring come from?"

"Me!" With that said, a glimpse of something that resembled pain ran across his eyes, which actually surprised me. I thought he would be disgusted but instead, he looks hurt. That's… interesting. Before I knew it, all three of us ran into Erza's back, which made us stop.

"We're here." As we looked around her shoulders, the Draugr had infested the city but there was a special Draugr at the gates to greet us.

"Oh shit - It's a Draugr Deathlord."

* * *

**Notes: **And we are at the end of the chapter! I hope all of you have enjoyed reading it! Please let me know what you've thought of the story so far through a review! I always love hearing what you have to say and will sometimes address it either through a direct reply or through my notes in each chapter. And yes, someone did point out that it is indeed a heavy Fairy Tail/Skyrim crossover but that will change soon once the first arc is completed. See you in the next chapter!

P.S. Would you prefer to see attacks in English, Japanese, or both?

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	8. Infested

**Author Note: **Thanks for the reviews from the last chapter everyone! It really made me happy reading the ones I received! I'm looking forward to reading some more from this chapter as well! Seeing as how the majority requested to read the attacks in English, I'll be writing them in English unless I receive more feedback from other people saying they prefer it in Japanese or both. Although, it would be a bit difficult to somehow incorporate both languages. Also, I'm glad to see that everyone is enjoying the Fairy Tail and Skyrim crossover but don't forget, that will probably only last until the first arc is complete! Well, have fun reading the chapter!

**Title:** A Promise Fulfilled

**Chapter 8: **Infested

**Rated: **T

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai, some language, slight AU

**Pairings: **Natsu x Gray

**Disclaimer: **Fairy Tail and its characters or cities do not belong to me; Spells, cities, and some script also do not belong to me (credit Skyrim); however, any OC named in this story do belong to me

* * *

"Watch out!" The Deathlord quickly shot an arrow at Natsu which slightly grazed his black waistcoat. A little more to the right and it would have dealt a lethal blow.

"Ice-Make: Shield!" A large shield of ice formed in front of us, which was barely protecting us from the archer. "I didn't know arrows could be so strong!" Another came flying at us but Gray's ice shield was able to withstand it.

"Thanks Gray! Josh! How do we deal with him?" Before I could reply to the scarlet, Natsu immediately interrupted.

"We just have to beat his ass!" As Natsu began to walk around the shield, I pulled him back and forced him to stay with us.

"Don't be so foolhardy idiot. We need to get rid of his bow since Deathlords are typically much stronger with a bow than a sword. If we can get him to switch to a sword, the battle will be much easier." Without saying anything else, Erza immediately ran out from behind the shield and charged at the Deathlord. She unsheathed a sword but before she could attack, a shout spell was soon heard.

"Zun Haal Viik!" Both of her swords immediately swung out of her hands as the Deathlord prepared to shoot another arrow. I suddenly became worried about her safety but that soon changed when the two swords suddenly came flying back into her hands. Was that telekinesis?

"Yeah! Go Erza!" Natsu yelled out in excitement as I saw a smile forming on both the fire and ice mages. As the space between Erza and the Deathlord dwindled, the Draugr immediately unsheathed an ebony great sword that required it to use both hands. However, when Erza made a move to strike, the Draugr casted another spell.

"Fo Krah Diin!" A huge frost breath emitted from its mouth forcing Erza to jump back near us. The right-hand side of us where the shout spell was being shot turned everything into ice. As soon as the Draugr's breath began to disappear, another arrow flew into Gray's shield forcing it to crack.

"This isn't good! It's about to break!" Before anyone else could react, Natsu jumped out from behind the shield and began to attack the Deathlord.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" His hands became engulfed in flames as he charged at the Deathlord. The arrows continued to fly through the air but he skillfully dodged each one. Maybe Natsu has a chance of landing a hit.

"Fus Ro Dah!" Without a warning, Natsu was sent flying backwards by an unrelenting force.

"Natsu! Are you all right?" Gray yelled as my eyes followed the fire mage land back on Earth as he was pushed away from the Draugr. He slowly got up but my attention returned to the Deathlord.

"Watch out! Another arrow!" As I saw the arrow leave its bow, my eyes quickly turned back to Natsu, the target. If I don't do something now, he's going to get hit! Suddenly, the ice shield disappeared in front of us as Gray quickly made some hand signals. A large bow was created out of ice and before I knew it, Gray shot a powerful ice arrow, which intercepted the arrow from hitting its target. Nice one!

"Bring your ass over here right now!" I yelled as Natsu quickly made his way back over to us. Gray continued to shoot his ice arrows at the Deathlord, which were hitting its target. However, the Draugr seemed unresponsive to his attacks as it also continued to fire its own arrows. Erza made a move to jump in front of us as she deflected all of the arrows with her swords.

"I'll take care of him." I immediately ran past the trio and made myself ready to cast multiple spells without rest. "Conjure Dremora Lord!" As my right hand was summoning the atronach, a bow shot at my head as I immediately leaned to the left to dodge. "Paralyze!" Out of my left hand shot a green orb, which landed a direct hit forcing the Draugr to fall on its back.

"Now you suffer!" The Dremora Lord finally came through the portal and ran towards the Draugr making sure to land a hit with its greatsword. The Draugr bursted into flames due to the sword as it started to get back up. "Paralyze and Incinerate!" My left hand shot out another green orb while my right hand shot a powerful blast of fire. "Wall of Flames and Thunderbolt!" My left hand then shot out a stream of flames near the Deathlord causing it to burn rapidly while my right hand shot a powerful thunderbolt, which mixed in with the flames.

"Finish him Dremora Lord!" My atronach took its greatsword and thrusted it into the undead's skull forcing to break apart.

"There could be no other end." As the Dremora Lord remained on guard, I took this opportunity to take in our whereabouts and see if there were any other enemies nearby.

"Detect Dead." After I casted the spell, there were numerous Draugr within the town of Winterhold but it would seem that they were all coming from one direction - most likely the sanctuary. I gave a sigh of relief as I turned back to see the rest of the team approaching me.

"Wow you were able to take him down so easily." I smiled a bit at the ice mage's comment as I shrugged my shoulders.

"Well, I do have experience with these guys so I'm very familiar with how they fight."

"I could have taken him down too you know!" I chuckled when I saw Natsu begin to pout but it would seem that Erza was still cautious about the area as she had a serious look on her face. As I took in my surroundings, we were standing in front of a tall, open gate with a brick walkway leading into the city. The area leading into the city was just all dirt with no grass or even snow covering it. It seemed so desolate… has Winterhold been like this for long?

"We're one of the first humans to step in this city in over three years." I gave Erza a weird look as it felt she somehow read my mind but I chose to ignore it. Peering into the city, you could see that all of the buildings were made of wood and because it wasn't maintained, it was severely rundown.

"Three years? You mean there hasn't been a guild successful enough to get this close as we have?" Erza nodded her head to answer my question, which only puzzled me. That's impossible - there's no way some Draugr could hold a city for that long unless there was something else involved.

"And that's why we're the strongest guild!" said Natsu as he brought his right hand up and made a fist.

"Your confidence is… overwhelming." Natsu made a smile while Gray chuckled a bit at my sarcasm.

"Say, I haven't seen you summon this guy before." As the rosette began to approach the Dremora Lord, it suddenly fell apart in an electrical form before being sent back to oblivion. "Whoa! I didn't do that!"

"I think he knows that Natsu." Both the mages gave a dirty look to each other before looking away. Guess they weren't as friendly as I thought they were.

"All right - we should probably take a break before going into the city. We'll need to gather our strength before clearing it out."

"No way! I'm all fired up after facing that undead beast! I can take on a couple more!" As he began to walk past the gate, Erza immediately grabbed him by his black waistcoat, brought him to the side of the main path and forced him to sit down.

"You're not going anywhere alone! Understand!?"

"Aye sir!" Her glare was definitely ferocious - I completely empathized with the rosette as I nodded my head sub-consciously.

"I think I'll scout the city and find out where exactly the sanctuary is. I'll also take a look as to how many Draugr we'll have to take out."

"I'll come along with you." Gray began to approach me but I raised my hand to stop him.

"Thanks but I think you should conserve your strength. Besides, I wouldn't want you to be hurt when I need someone to come rescue me." I smiled at the raven, which only made him laugh a bit.

"All right, fine - I'll hang back here with the others then." He sat over by the rosette but left some space between both of them. As I began to walk into the city, I felt a hand on my shoulder, which paused my movement.

"Be careful. The moment we hear anything, we're coming in there for you." I stared into her eyes and could see that she was a bit worried about my wellbeing.

"Don't worry too much about me! I'll be fine, I promise." She removed her grip as I continued walking down the walkway.

"How come he gets to go by himself?"

"Just give it up Natsu. She's not going to let us go in by ourselves."

"That's not fair though…" As the distance between myself and group grew, their voices began to dwindle away.

"Conjure Dremora Lord." I summoned two Dremora Lords with both my hands to be safe. I definitely didn't want something popping out at me without something at my side. As I continued walking into the abandoned city, I looked high up in the sky to see the sun begin to set. Perhaps it would be best to find some shelter before clearing the Draugr although it really wouldn't matter to me either way. Suddenly, a lone Draugr walked into the path in front of me forcing me to take cover in an alleyway behind a building. One of the lords went with me while the other took the opposite side of me.

"I smell weakness…"

"Shush. You're not here to fight just yet. Just be quiet and be on the lookout for any Draugr that might come our way." I moved my head closer around the corner to see if the Draugr had disappeared but it was just standing in the road. Well, this is annoying… maybe I can get him to go away by throwing my voice. I quietly cleared my throat and started to whisper a shout spell.

"Zul Mey Gut."

"Hey, ugly!" The shout got the Draugr's attention as it began to run in the opposite direction in search of the voice. Looks like that did it. My two Dremora Lords and I returned back on the main road and continued walking down in search of anything that could be relevant to our quest.

"Quiet again."

"Well that's obvious. Didn't you see him run away?" Without waiting for a response, I merely took in my surroundings again. We passed a couple of market stands where people could buy fruit or items but it looked so lifeless now. It also seemed as if the town was immediately abandoned judging by the way the doors were left open and there were a couple of suitcases laying around.

"Wo meyz wah dii vul junaar?" A dark, ghastly voice appeared out of nowhere as I suddenly fell to my knees. My eyes blurred a bit and I looked around to see if anyone was there but I couldn't see anyone but my Dremora Lords. It felt as if all the magic in me had drained away but it's starting to recover again. I slowly picked myself up but the voice suddenly came back.

"Nivahriin muz fen siiv nid aaz het." My magic was drained out of me once more but this time, I was able to stop myself from falling. Where is that voice coming from? My Dremora Lords came closer as if to defend me while I began to interpret what the mysterious voice was saying.

"Who comes to my dark kingdom and cowardly men will find no mercy here? Um, I think it's time to go back to the rest of the group."

"You do not answer… must I use this guttural language of yours?" My eyes quickly jumped from building to building but I couldn't find anyone speaking. And I wasn't going to be a moron and ask where it was since that would give away my own position as well. It might be too late to turn back at this point.

"Have you returned, Makarov? My old friend?" Makarov? Old friend? Is this an enemy or a friend of ours?

"Do you seek to finish that which you could not?" I swallowed a bit of my saliva as I gathered up the courage to keep walking forward. And to think Deathlords didn't even scare me…

"Detect Dead." I quietly casted the spell to see if there were any Draugr nearby and boy, there was a huge group behind a building, which was blocking the main path. Thankfully, there was a backdoor into the building so along with my two Dremora lords, we made our way closer to the huge group of enemies. Once we were at the door, I slowly placed my hand on the knob and as I made a motion to turn it, the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

"You only face failure once more…" Come on Josh, you can do this - I've killed numerous Draugr and Dragon Priests before… there's no way something can kill you here. I slowly turned the knob and opened the door revealing an empty room with stairs leading to the second floor. Once we entered the building, one of Dremora Lords quietly closed the door behind us as I made my way up the stairs to see a window at the end of the corridor.

"You… you are not Makarov, are you? Has he sent you in his place?" Sent me? Huh… now that I think about it, didn't Erza say Makarov chose us to complete this S-class quest? I swiftly moved over to the window and when I looked out the window, my heart skipped a beat. There must have been at least 100 Draugr here! With at least over half of them to be Deathlords! Holy shit…

"Did he warn you that your own power would be your undoing? That it would only serve to strengthen me?" I need to be careful not to make a sound and hopefully, this voice I keep hearing doesn't know my location. As I observed the group, it would seem that all of them were just aimlessly walking around but within a certain area. Wait… what's that in the middle? It's a black coffin, which means there's a Dragon Priest inside! Suddenly, the Dragon Priest bursted out of its sarcophagus and all of the Draugr were looking in one direction - at me.

"Come. Face your end." Before I knew it, every Draugr took their ebony bows out and all I could see was a rain of arrows heading my way.

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**Notes: **So how was the chapter? I hope you've enjoyed reading the chapter and let me know what your thoughts are through a review! Until next time everyone!

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	9. Battle

**Author Note: **Sorry about the long update guys. I haven't really been writing any chapters for the story in the past two weeks since I've just been so busy and lost a bit motivation. I was pretty surprised to see a whole bunch of reviews for Chapter 7 and then only one review for Chapter 8. It was a tearjerker... haha. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter! P.S. I only have two chapters written after this so I really need to find time to start writing some more.

**Title:** A Promise Fulfilled

**Chapter 9: **Battle

**Rated: **T

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai, some language, slight AU

**Pairings: **Natsu x Gray

**Disclaimer: **Fairy Tail and its characters or cities do not belong to me; Spells and cities also do not belong to me (credit Skyrim); however, any OC named in this story do belong to me

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"Feim Zii Gron!" The arrows shattered the stained windows and sent both of my Dremora Lords back to oblivion while at least 90% of them shot through my body. Thankfully, I made my form ethereal, which meant that I couldn't be hurt but there's a time limit. I jumped through the window and landed on the stone floor while the Draugr continued shooting their arrows. I hastily made my way into the crowd and once I thought I was in the center, I began to combine two master spells. As I focused my magic, the wind started to pick up around my feet.

"Blizzard and Lightning Storm!" A violent winter storm engulfed the area while I used my lightning storm to make the blizzard more violent. It was a sight to behold… not only were the Draugr being affected by the blizzard but they were being hit by lighting storms that were being generated. Suddenly, I felt my body returning to normal as I began to utilize my conjuration spells.

"Summon Flame, Frost, Storm Atronachs, Ash Guardians, and Dremora Lords! Fight by your master in his time of need!" 15 purple portals quickly opened up around me as three of each atronach came through immediately attacking the first Draugr they saw. However, I immediately felt light-headed summoning that many at once and that's when I didn't see one of the Deathlords shoot a freezing whirlwind at me. I was able to side-step it a bit but my right arm got caught and I felt numerous cuts carve into my arm from the spell.

"Fuck! Paralyze!" I shot a green orb at the Deathlord who shot the spell and observed a Frost Atronach pierce its huge arm into the undead warrior, killing it immediately. "Guardian Circle!" A circle made of bright light immediately encircled me and the atronachs, which healed us gradually while repelling all of the Draugr within it. My eyes jumped around from the small skirmishes between the Draugr and Atronachs and I was able to see that due to my master spells, all of the non-Deathlords were killed leaving around 75 to go. Once my right arm was fully healed, I began focusing another master spell of which red light started to appear from my hands.

"Mayhem!" A red light engulfed the Draugr and once they were affected, they began to attack one another; however, some of them were able to resist the spell and continue their attack on my atronachs. The spell wasn't going to last long so I need to find that damn priest! When I looked back in the direction of the sarcophagus, I found the priest still standing near it but it was wearing a golden mask with what seems to be tusks on the side. It can't be… it's Konahrik! He was here in the Fiore Kingdom this whole time!? Suddenly, I saw my three Flame Atronachs explode into flames as they were killed by archers in the rear. However, the Dremora Lords seemed to be holding up well as each of them already killed two Deathlords. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up as soon as I heard a chorus of a single shout spell.

"Fus Ro…"

"Wuld Nah Kest!"

"Dah!" My voice suddenly rushed forward, carrying me in its wake with the speed of a tempest as I avoided the relenting force. Had I just stood there, my body would have probably been ripped apart. However, all of my atronachs were able to resist the spell except for the three Dremora Lords who were sent flying outside of the circle. Before I knew it, one of the Deathlords came running towards me and slashed sideways with an axe forcing me to jump backwards. Shit, I'm nowhere near my atonachs!

"Dir Volaan!"

"Die quickly you say? I'm not ready to die just yet." As my eyes quickly took in my surroundings, there were five Deathlords that were about to swing their great swords and if I take the hit, I will definitely be killed. I need to try and finish this quickly! "Tiid Klo Ul!" The Deathlords around me slowed down as I was able to slow time itself, which gave me enough time to cast a powerful shout. "Strun Bah Qo!" I shouted to the skies as dark clouds quickly engulfed the sunset above us bringing in a heavy storm. Within seconds, lightning began to strike down each and every Deathlord in the area bringing down a tremendous destructive force.

"Aav Dilon!" Before time returned to normal, I quickly returned to the guardian circle I created earlier but not before seeing two of my Frost Atronachs being chopped down. Shit, how many of them are left? It became difficult to see what was happening due to the mixture of the rain, blizzard, and storm generated by my master and shout spells.

"Detect Dead!" Thanks to the spell, I could see that there were only 60 of them left but damn, this is taking way too long. At this rate, the town will be destroyed if I cast anymore shout spells. I just might have to do it…

"Meteor!" Before I knew it, a bright yellow trail left by a figure travelled through the battlefield quickly delivering what seems to be quick but powerful, melee attacks to the Deathlords. Maybe it's an ally? The unknown figure jumped in the air and placed both arms on top of each other, with the top hand having only the index and middle fingers spread out. Seven magic seals were summoned in front of him and connected, creating a constellation of some sort. It was actually very pretty with the storm in the background.

"Grand Chariot!" I felt goosebumps all over me as each of his magic seal were releasing a powerful light blast all over the battlefield making direct hits on the Deathlords,which created a huge dust cloud. Whoever this was had the capability of casting very powerful spells. I have to be careful in case this person might be an enemy. However, thanks to their help, there were only 35 Deathlords left.

"Summon Dremora Lord and Dremora Valkynaz! Lords, protect us as we go after the Dragon Priest!" The five Lords I summoned immediately charged out in front of us making room as the four Valkynaz followed suit with me taking the lead. "Valkynaz, get ready to attack!" All four of them immediately casted Ironflesh, which casted a bluish invisible armor over their entire bodies. "In unison, fireball!" All of us shot fireballs at Konahrik, which made a direct hit and made a huge fire explosion at his location. Well, if the others didn't know I was in trouble, they do now!

"This time, use Incinerate!" All of us shout a massive blast of fire at the Dragon Priest, which caused him to be set on fire as he casted a frost cloak to douse the fire.

"Hahaha! If you think that is enough to kill me, think again!" Suddenly, a purple portal surrounded him, which instinctively made me bring my right hand up.

"You're not getting away pal! Paralyze!" A green orb quickly shot from my hand and as soon as it made contact, Konahrik disappeared through the portal. "Damn it to hell! I won't let you get away from Winterhold! Dremora, kill the rest of these pathetic Draugr." Having said that, one could hear massive explosions and fighting between the Dremora and Draugr. There was only about 15 of them left at this point, which shouldn't be a big issue.

"Heavenly Beams!" Before I knew it, I felt myself launch head first into the ground as I felt powerful beams burn into my back. I grinded my teeth together by the sudden pain.

"What… the hell? Grand Healing!" As my healing spell took effect, I was able to get back up to see the unknown figure levitating in mid-air. Whoever it was wearing a whitish blue shirt under a hooded dark blue coat with light blue edges, two strings with shield-shaped pendants hanging down from the hood and a prominent golden symbol on the left part of the chest plus some simple, loose, dark pants tucked inside laced boots. This guy definitely pissed me off.

"Heavenly Arrows!" My new enemy quickly swiped their hands, which released several arrows at light.

"You've pissed me off now! Greater Ward!" A magic shield appeared before me, which quickly absorbed all of his arrows, which appeared to be made of light. Suddenly, fireballs were seen being shot at my enemy from my summoned Valkynaz.

"Heavenly Blast!" The figure made a motion to close his fist except for two fingers and swiped them backwards as a large sphere of light appeared and rushed towards all of the fireballs, which caused them to explode in mid-air. "Meteor!" As quickly as he casted the spell, the figure moved quickly through the battlefield and made a move to attack my Dremora Lords but they were able to successfully block and counter with their swords.

"Hah! Don't underestimate my Dremora Lords! In fact, since you seem to rely on agility so much, I wonder how well you'll be able to see in this? Ven Mul Riik!" I quickly summoned a dense fog, which engulfed the battlefield making it impossible to see anything in front of you. However, I could still see, which makes it quite unfortunate for my enemy. "Detect Life and Thunderbolt!" As soon as his aura emitted, a bolt of lighting shot from my left hand making a direct hit but it seemed to went right through him. What's going on?

"Got you!" I gasped in pain as I felt a tremendous punch go for my stomach, which made me fall to my knees. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see that the figure I attacked earlier disappear into thin air as I felt myself being brought up to the point where I wasn't even standing on the ground. The mysterious figure was now holding me high above him by grasping my robes. His right hand had light beams ready to fire at any moment as I made direct contact with his brown eyes.

"Don't count me out just yet buddy." I gave a smirk as he was suddenly attacked with flame spells from my Dremora, which caused him to jump back into the air but his grasp on me still remained. "You will regret not letting me go. Gaan Lah Haas!" The enemy before me was now covered in purple markings, which immediately made him lose his strength as he started to dive back down. "Wuld Nah Kest!" As his grasp on me was now loose, I immediately got away with the speed of a tempest.

"Josh! What's happening?" As soon as I heard familiar voices, I quickly made a move to remove the fog.

"Lok Vah Koor!" Immediately, the fog and dark clouds were dispelled as the sunset was now back in our view rather quickly. I turned around to see the group running towards me with Erza leading the way. "Sorry about that. I ran into a couple of enemies."

"A couple of enemies? You look like you wiped out an entire army!" Gray exclaimed as I rubbed the back of my hand while I nervously made a laugh.

"From what I saw, there was a huge blizzard, followed by a thunderstorm and rain, and then there an immense fog of which disappeared as soon as we arrived. Explain yourself!"

"Uh, I…"

"Meteor!" As soon as I heard the unknown enemy still around us, I immediately turned back around to see him charging at me.

"To all of you who are left, kill this enemy of ours!" Quickly, 1 storm atronach, 3 Dremora Lords, and 4 Dremora Valkynaz made a move to attack with their respective spells and weapons.

"Jellal! What are you doing here!?"

"Jellal?" My atronachs immediately stopped their attacks as the mage in front of me withdrew his spell, which caused the bright yellow light to disappear.

"Erza?" The hooded man in front us finally removed his hood, which immediately made my heart skip a beat. He had blue hair and a red tattoo underneath his right eye… he's so hot! However, at the same time, I felt a sharp pain run through me, which caused me to grasp the skin over my heart. Damn it… the fucking curse. I need to get away from here.

"We haven't seen you in a long time! What have you been up to?" Without another word, I immediately left the group and made my way towards the sarcophagus. I can't look at this so-called Jellal… he's fucking aggravating my curse for some reason. As I walked past my atronachs, I could hear them start to follow me as their boots made a sound on the brick path.

"So Josh, what happened?" I turned back to see Gray standing in between my atronachs with a serious look on his face.

"What do you mean? And why do you look so serious?" Silence followed, which only aggravated me.

"Why did you leave us just now?" I looked down at the bricks as I began to analyze each crack with great interest.

"Because I…" I gave a sigh out loud before continuing. "It's nothing Gray."

"Don't lie to me or did you forget?" He brought up his finger, which immediately reminded me of the night I gave him the ring he was wearing.

"Hah, friends huh? Well, you got me. If you really want to know why, I'll tell you soon - just not now, okay?" He gave me a long look before giving a sigh himself.

"Fine but don't think I'll forget."

"I wouldn't expect you to forget." I gave a small smile and when he was at my side, we both began to walk towards the sarcophagus.

"You still didn't tell me what happened. We heard a bunch of fighting and explosions too. It was like watching a dragon slayer fight."

"When did you guys enter the city?"

"The moment we saw storm clouds immediately overtake the sky. We knew there had to be some sort of magic involved especially when we saw a bunch of thunderbolts clashing down in one area."

"That obvious huh?"

"Yep."

"Well, to keep it simple, let's just say I ran into around 75 Deathlords and 25 normal Draugr."

"75!?" When I turned to look at the raven, his eyes were wide open and his jaw was slightly open. "How were you able to kill them all? We were having a big issue with just one back at the gate!"

"Like I said, I have experience and plus, I had these guys to back me up." Gray looked behind us to see my atronachs still in tow as he brought a hand up to his chin.

"Are they really that strong? Back at the guild, we were able to take them down without too much effort."

"That's because I didn't want to harm any of you. If I truly wanted to attack or kill you, you would have seen another side of my atronachs you wouldn't want to see."

"Stop right there!" I quickly stopped walking as I turned back around to see Erza, Natsu, and Jellal walking towards us. Perhaps I should conserve my strength and send some of these guys back to oblivion.

"Atronachs, you may return. 2 Valkynaz, remain here with me as protection." 6 purple portals opened up allowing them to return to oblivion as the rest of the group were now a good couple feet away from us.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I was going to go over to that sarcophagus over there." I pointed in a direction behind me of which Erza momentarily broke eye contact to stare off in that direction.

"You can do that tomorrow morning. For now, we should head back outside the city where it's safe."

"Detect Dead." I honestly expected to see the city cleared out of the Draugr but was disappointed to see that wasn't the case. There were still a couple of auras that appeared throughout the city.

"We don't necessarily have to leave the city. There's a building over there I cleared out a couple of days ago." I observed the blue-haired man as I couldn't help but ogle at the sight of him. Wow, now this is definitely eye-candy for me.

"Why don't we just clear out the city before the sun sets? That way, we'll have a part of our mission already completed and we'll just have to focus on the sanctuary tomorrow."

"I agree! I wanna beat a couple of these deadbeats back into the ground!" Natsu brought his fists together as a couple of flames began to erupt. The scarlet-haired woman looked over to the fire mage before back to me.

"Are you still okay to fight?" I nodded my head and gave a soft smile to reassure her that I would be just fine.

"Don't worry about me; if anything, Natsu and Gray can come with me so we can be a three-man team." With that idea, she shook her head disapprovingly.

"I'd rather have Jellal go with you since you seem to be a bit tired. Gray! Natsu! Come with me and we'll clear out the East side of town. We'll return back here at the circle in an hour."

"Haha yes! About time I get to fight!"

"Don't get too excited. If you already forgot, we kinda had trouble with just one Deathlord earlier in the day."

"What's wrong? Don't tell me you're becoming a pussy?"

"Fuck you Natsu."

"Both of you, shut up and follow me!"

"Aye sir!" The two mages immediately became quiet but you could tell they were both excited to get back to fighting with the smiles on their faces. As the distance between them and us grew, I didn't bother to look at the other person I somehow wound up being teamed up with. We both walked in the opposite direction of the other group with my Dremora in tow.

"Sorry about attacking you earlier." I decided to keep my mouth shut as I wasn't sure what would set off the curse that possessed me. We both walked past the first building as we looked down the alleyways in search of any Draugr. "You surprised me you know? I didn't expect a human to know any shout spells."

"Detect Dead." Using the spell in my right hand, I found that there were at least thirty-four of them on this side of town. "Dremora, go kill the thirty-four Draugr remaining in this part of town and return back to me once you're done." Without another word, they casted the Ironflesh and Flame Cloak spell as they dispersed into the West side of Winterhold.

"You don't talk much do you?" I looked back to the blue-haired man and noticed that he was actually a bit taller than me. I remained quiet even though I kinda had the urge to talk. However, I didn't want to take the risk of being hurt so I merely looked away. "It's no surprise that you're a part of Fairy Tail. I don't think anyone else could have withstood being in the middle of all those Deathlords and live to tell the tale."

"It seems you're quite familiar with Fairy Tail. However, I wouldn't be too certain of how well Erza, Natsu, or Gray would have walked away from that battle unscathed had any of them been in my position."

"I guess you haven't been a part of the guild too long have you? If you did, you would know how strong of a team you have with you." I looked away feeling a bit guilty about not having enough trust or faith in my teammates. Suddenly, a couple of explosions were heard in the distance to the point where we felt a building come crumbling down. "So what's your name?"

"Josh… and I guess your name is Jellal?" He nodded his head as my eyes made contact with a bench down the street. I slowly made my way towards it and took a seat on the wooden bench. Uninvited, Jellal also took a seat on the bench right next to me. Suddenly, a Draugr popped up from around the corner - probably aroused by the loud explosion. When it caught sight of us, it began to ran towards us with its sword out and I could feel Jellal stand up from the bench. I made a loud yawn and covered it with my right hand and brought my left hand up in the direction of the undead warrior.

"Paralyze." As soon as it fell down, I began my next spell. "Wall of Storms." The Draugr was soon electrocuted by my spell, which made Jellal sit back down.

"You don't seem to be fazed by them do you?" I shook my head.

"Nope, seen them lots of times in my life." I sighed out loud as I quickly wanted my Dremora to kill the rest of the undead so we could return to the others. I really didn't want to spend anymore time with this guy. He's just so… attractive and good looking! There has to be a crime with the way he looks.

"Is there something wrong?" I was a bit confused by his question but when I finally noticed that I was staring at him, I looked away as to avoid any eye contact.

"Nope! Everything's good over here!" Oh please, let this day be over!

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